ULTRAVOX

The Story
Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

elements of the song right in your handsits all there if you could just find the one
piece thats the key to the puzzle. You know that it wants to work, you just havent
found the clue yet.
When you find it, everything slides into place and the song becomes more than
the sum of its parts. Sometimes you try scores of different ideas and none of them
appears to catalyse the song into the entity you have in mind. Youre left with some
music which isnt bad, but you feel you have a song that just teeters upon working
an ideal candidate for a B-side.
You cant codify the creative process. Often as not wed discover a song was
turning into an A-side which deserved to be on an album. Which was greatwe had
another song. But were back at square one with no track for a B-side.
After this happened many times, we decided the best way to record extra tracks
would be to go into the studio with nothing prepared at all, and to just write
something then and there. There was an element of risk to this but that made it all
the more attractive. It was an ideal way to relax musically without the heaviness of
posterity and career breathing down our necks, yet still offer a challenge. We often
discovered ways of recording and approaches to writing that we later incorporated
into material which went on albums, so it seemed a win-win situation. We were later
to take this philosophy to its zenith with the recording of Rage In Eden.

48

Ultravox: The Story

1974
Tiger Lily

I answered a drummer wanted advertisement

in Melody Maker and sent a very cheeky reply containing a lot of attitude; I had
previously had nothing but bad experiences with this forum and had decided that
being modest wouldnt get me anywhere! I forgot about it until some weeks later
when I ultimately got a phone call from Dennis Leigh (later aka John Foxx). We met
and he played me a few of his songs on acoustic guitar. I liked the songs and I liked his
lyrics. It seemed promising so I agreed to meet the others.
We became a band when I joined which was in May-ish, 1974. Until then, there
was only Dennis, Stevie Shears, and Chris Allen (later aka Christopher St. John, then
Chris Cross). They hadnt done any gigs, just the occasional rehearsal in one of the
halls at the Royal College of Art where they were storing their equipment. I went there
to see them, set up my drums, and we played for awhile. I think they were impressed
that I suggested we actually start work on one of their songs, rather than just
jamming. Johns enthusiasm and Chris bass playing caught my initial interest and I
thought Id stay for a while and see what, if anything, would happen. After a few
weeks of rehearsals it became apparent to me that there was definitely something
there worth pursuing.
As a fledgling band with no resources other than our enthusiasm, we were very
lucky in one respectwe had a place to rehearse that was conveniently located,
available to us most evenings, and free! A friend of Dennis, named Ronnie (I dont
remember his last name, but he was from Scotland), ran a business refurbishing store
display manikins, and he very kindly didnt mind if we went in after working hours and
used the place to rehearse in. It was called Modreno (how apt) and was in a business
yard near Kings Cross station. We could make noise without disturbing anyone and
it only took five minutes to walk to the trains (wed have to stop each evening in time
for us all to catch the last tube homenone of us was wealthy enough to run a car,
otherwise wed have been at it all night!).

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

May 26
All Stood Still released as a single
The 7-inch of this song was an edit from the
album version and was not remixed. When writing and arranging songs, we always
catered to the length the song wanted to be, not what radio might want it to be.
Once the song was recorded, if it was deemed a single, then wed consider editing it if
it was too long. Usually this was never an issue with us as long as we were the ones
who decided what was trimmed. When we edited, we snipped to reduce running
time, not to alter the shape of the song. We knew most people were aware that
singles werent neccessarily the album version.
Someone once remarked to me that theyd heard of a video for All Stood Still. I
doubt it, because we never made a video for this song. If someone really has seen one,
I can only imagine that perhaps a zealous foreign record label/telly company
somewheres compiled some clips and put it to the song. We certainly didnt do it.
The B-side of the 7-inch was Alles Klar. The title was inspired by having spent so
much time in Germany and our efforts at wrestling with the language. Klar and
Alles klarmeaning, Yes...sure...I get it...!was such a frequent answer to our
babble that we soon took to using it ourselves as a one-response-fits-all joke. The
rhythmic exhalation of breath heard at the beginning of the track runs all the way

When we edited, we snipped to

reduce running time, not to alter
the shape of the song. We knew
most people were aware that
singles werent neccessarily the
album version.

through it. Nowadays, youd do it five or six times, sample it, and make a loop to
repeat as long as necessary. I stood in front of a mic and did it the hard way for five
minutes. By the end of the song I nearly hyperventilated.
All Stood Still was our first 12-inch version. It seems incredibly tame when
compared with what the 12-inch form evolved into later on but this was early days.
The B-side of the 12-inch was printed as Keep Torque-ing. The title is later printed as
Keep Talking which is the correct and original title. The B-side wasnt exactly a
misprintmore like a private band joke that got a little out of control, or a complete
misunderstanding of a hand-written title on a tape box label. Perhaps both. It was
never meant to appear on the record.

46

Ultravox: The Story

1975

March
The only Tiger Lily single Aint Misbehavin

I dont know the exact date it was released, but

there was an interview in Melody Maker dated March 1, 1975 (page 24), where writer
Karl Dallas talks about the film and talks to Dennis Leigh. Two weeks later, there was a
review in Melody Maker (dated March 15, 1975, page 14) of the single. It was tipped as
being one of the weeks HITS (as opposed to being rated a MISSwe didnt have
many reviews like that!).
As this was the first published review we ever had, I shall quote it in its entirety
for you:
TIGER LILY : Aint Misbehavin (Gull) One of those Temperence Seven-type things
that crop up from time to time. The Fats Waller classic deserves more respectful
treatment and doesnt lend itself easily to such juvenile behavior, but fact is its a
compulsive song and this becomes more interesting with the addition of a fiddle
and a more beaty approach as the song progresses. With the current interest in
the film, I have a sneaking suspicion this might stand a chance. Hit.

The line-up was; Dennis Leigh [vocals], Stevie Shears [guitar], Warren Cann
[drums], Christopher St. John [bass], Billy Currie [piano, violin].
We had a tentative some-time manager, a friend of mine named John Marshall,
who seemed to be the only person about at the time who expressed any faith in us
whatsoever, and we were content to let him drum up any interest or work that he
could. Through his contacts, he discovered the film and talked someone into letting
us do something for the soundtrack.
When he told us that it was a movie about blues greats and vintage porn, it
sounded cool enough. We wouldnt have agreed to do it if it was some really boring,
straight film. We were surprised, however, when he told us that wed be covering a
Fats Waller song, rather than us just doing our own material.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

1981
January 15
Vienna released as a single

Vienna video: After the baptism by fire of our

first video, Passing Strangers, we assumed much more responsibility for this one
(many more ideas were ours, and we absolutely re-edited the first cut we saw of the
assembled video). We were learning fast. We knew what we wanted to see and how
we wanted to do it. Chrysalis werent very thrilled with the release of the single in the
first place. It was the usual old stuff, Its too long for a single (i.e., not 3 min. 20 sec.),
its too slow...too weird, etc. We dug in and pushed and pushed for its release until
we got our way.
Wed wanted to make a video for it from the very first moment, but Chrysalis
balked and wouldnt give us the money. This was, remember, in the days when the
Record Company would pay for the videonot the band! We thought, To hell with
them. Well do it ourselves.
We went ahead and did it with our own money. It may come as a surprise to
know that approximately half of it was shot on locations in central London, mainly at
Covent Garden and also in the old Kilburn Gaumont Theatre in North London (sadly,
now a Bingo hall). The embassy party scene was in some house wed rented in town.
Cant remember where, but I do remember that it took the crew a long time to set up
the lights to prepare for filming. So long that we all got impatient with waiting and
dipped into the many cases of wine wed laid on for refreshment after the shoot. By
the time the crew was ready to film, we were all well partying for real.
The other half was in Vienna. We did it on the cheap. There was just us and Nick,
our trusty camera man. We took an early morning flight to Vienna, ran round like
loonies in and out of taxis as we filmed, and soon discovered that, due to it being the
winter off-season, many of the splendid places wed been counting upon filming were
either shut for redecorating or covered with webs of scaffolding. What do you mean
its closed for repairs?! We finished up in the cemetary for the shots with the statue
which had been used for the singles cover (a gentleman who made pianos for the rich

44

Ultravox: The Story

1976

Early October
The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned

The album was from a series called Front

Runners. Its title is Rock & Reggae & Derek & Clive. I checked the information from
its advertisement in Melody Maker the week of October 2, 1976. The record contained a track each from Island Records artists and was available as a special offer
sampler, in conjunction with Melody Maker music newspaper, for 65 pence. The other
artists on it were: Robert Palmer, Bunny Wailer, Max Romeo, the Upsetters, Burning
Spear, Justin Hines & the Dominos, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, Sandy Denny, and
Eddie & The Hot Rods.
Our spot on the sleeve was indicated not by a photo of the band or a photo of
our upcoming album sleeve, but by a large Question Mark, because we hadnt given
them a band name to use. We were still dithering over what we would choose as our
penultimate name. We had been going through various phases ever since wed formed
and Tiger Lily had long been dropped. So had, The Zips, Fire of London, and
London Soundtrackwe were even called the The Damned for a week or two
until we discovered another band had beaten us to it! We knew that whatever we told
them would be the name we would be branded with forever, and we wanted to be
sure we were happy with our choice of new name. They had to get the record out and
couldnt wait for us to make up our minds, hence the ? for us beside The Wild, the
Beautiful, and the Damned. Ive got a copy of this record somewhere back in England.
I will quote the text of the advertisement here, verbatim...
Rock & Roll & Derek & Clive is the title of this weeks album in the MMs
fabulous 65p Front Runners records offer. This is week three of the unprecedented collectors item project that bring readers thousands of albums of the top
names in pop - LPs which cannot be bought in the shops. Island Records have
compiled a unique album starring tracks by top names from their all-star roster.
They include: Bunny Wailer, Max Romeo, Upsetters, Burning Spear, Justin Hines
& The Dominoes, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, Sandy Denny, Robert Palmer, and
Eddie And The Hot Rods.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

before the police came banging on the door, so there was no time to lose. Sometime
before the neighbours got fed up and reported us and the response time it took for
the police to arrive, I got a good take and we had what we wanted.
Recording a song like this, with its sequenced pattern running throughout, was
akin to creating a rod for our own backs, and created problems for us later on. The
pattern wasnt as all pervasive as a bass line which was neigh impossible to not hear
live. It was easily overpowered by other instrumentation, and if I lost track of iteven
for a momentit was damn difficult to figure out where Id gone wrong and get back
into sync in the proper place. It led to us having to come up with extensive selfmonitoring solutions for us all in the live environment.
Vienna: The song came together very quickly. I had a drum machine/synth pad
(CR-78 and Synare pads) pattern in mind that Id wanted to do something with and
played that. To paraphrase myself, I said something like, What about this, then? and
began the Vienna rhythm. We started playing something to it and then had the
thought of using a chorus idea that we had laying around, which wed previously
worked on, but had no verse for. It all clicked in a few hours, and we ironed out the
rough spots the next day. Except for finessing the middle solo section of the song,
once we were in the studio, that was basically it. A hit a day keeps the dole away.
We knew it was the musical high point of the album and made it the title track.
It was the song that best represented what we were trying to do. We were determined
that it would be our third single and fought with Chrysalis over it. Naturally, they
thought it was far too long at six minutes, too weird for a Top 30 chart hit, and too
depressing and too slow. Other than that, they liked it. Bill was the only one who
agreed with them. While he thought it was a brilliant LP track, he just couldnt see it
as a single. Naturally, this provided a source of great amusement within the band for
years to come.
We werent big fans of including lyric sheets in our records. We thought it was
more interesting to listen for yourself rather than have it laid out for you, but many of
the labels for the non-English speaking territories liked to include them, and we had
no objection. When we read the Japanese lyric sheet for Vienna we were in hysterics.
Someone, somewhere, had obviously been delegated to sit down and transcribe the
lyrics. We may safely assume that their first language was not English, as one of the
lines in the song Vienna made mention of going out for a takeaway meal.
All Stood Still: This is an excellent example of a song that we wouldnt have
written but for the Mini-Moog. Well, perhaps it wouldve been written, but it
wouldnt have sounded anything like what we recorded. Playing that bass line on
guitar wouldve been a headache.
Songs like All Stood Still brings up an interesting aspect of playing live. As the
time-keeper of the band, it was always my job to set the tempo when we played,
and maintain it for the duration of the song. While playing along to a synth had one
obvious benefitthe tempo wasnt about to wildly drift aroundthere were other
complications. Its one thing to collectively determine the ideal tempo for a song
when in the solitude and objectivity of the rehearsal studio, its quite another when
youre on stage in front of a lot of excited people. Their energy rubs off. You get out

42

Ultravox: The Story

would be just the man to show us how to go beyond the conventional guitar/piano/
bass/drums approach that was so prevalent at the time. We wanted to pick his brains.
What we discovered was that Brian wasat that timeactually quite nave in the
area of technical expertise. It was not his fort. In the first days in the studio together
(Brian came in after wed already recorded the bulk of the material), I remember
looking at his Mini-Moog synthesizer. It was the first one Id ever gotten my hands on
and he had all these little pieces of tape stuck by the keys with the names of the notes
written on them, plus little pictures stuck on adjacent to some of the control knobs. I

...it was very cool to do all

sorts of unusal things via
the recording process,
but it still had to end up
sounding good.

pointed to a cute picture of a sheep and asked, Whats that mean? He replied, Well,
I dont know what that knob does but, when I turn it, it makes the sound wooly, so
the picture of the sheep (sheep...wool...get it?) reminds me.... I was quite taken aback. I
didnt know what to say to that! I think I just nodded and said, Umm... good idea!
From that moment on, I had a very strong suspicion that Brian was not the technical
master wed had in mind!
Eno was far more of a conceptualistan ideas man. He was quite bold about
not giving a damn about what the final result sounded like. He was only interested in
the process (which is great for learning, and fine if your musical future doesnt hinge
on public, rather than private, reaction to the final result). While we immediately
acknowledged the importance of the journey as opposed to the destination, in our
case we were more pragmaticthe final result, which would be released for peoples
listening pleasure, mattered very much to us! We agreed that it was very cool to do all
sorts of unusual things via the recording process, but it still had to end up sounding
good. There wouldnt be a second album for us to make if the first one was less than
we were capable of, and all we might say was, But it was a gas to make!
We had our most productive and interesting times together when the tape
wasnt rolling; when we would just sit round in the control room and talk about
music and art. We appeared to be very much on a similar wave-length as each other,
but he was far more articulate in his expression of the turmoil of emotions an artist
has to contend with. He seemed to have thought matters through much further than
us, whereas we were still trying to put all the pieces together. We loved listening to
him and I believe that it was, overall, a very good idea. He only worked on three of
four songs at the most, and we didnt use any of his mixes (we thought it polite not
to mention it).
Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

July 11
LP Vienna released
Astradyne: The ticking sound which introduces the track is from the CR-78 (it was called Metal Beat). I played along to it. We
were always fond of instrumentals but, inexplicably, gradually drifted away from them
in later days. The title was a combination of Latin, from the Royal Air Forces motto
Per Adua Ad Astra (Through Adversity to the Stars), and an aerospace company
called Rocketdyne, whose name I liked the sound of.
New Europeans: This is the only instance I can think of where we had a title
before we had any music (or lyrics). We always wrote the music first and then lyrically
followed on from there.
This song can be credited with catalysing our popularity in Japan and was
initially used as the music for a television whiskey commercial. In Japanese adverts the
music is credited in fine print in a corner of the screena fine concept. The interest it
generated lead to it being released as a single which went gold. The ceremony at the
record company where we were presented with our gold records was very formal. We
were lead into an antechamber to be introduced to the head of the label. He was very
old and very dignified, even though he looked as if hed keel over at any minute, and
didnt appear to have a clue as to who we were. They took it very seriously (to my
delight) and it was a memorable moment.
Private Lives: My original title for this song was Hollywoodammerng (OK,
no ones perfect). It was soon changed to Private Lives.
Passing Strangers: The recording of this song went smooth enough. I dont
remember anything in particular about the session itself. We wanted to release
Vienna as the second single, but managed to get talked out of it somehow (never
again!). So this became our second single and our first music video. We worked with
director Russell Mulcahy and found the entire process fascinating. It was a great
learning experience, but like everything else, from artwork to posters, packaging, and
merchandising, we took an immediate interest in it and quickly realised that wed
better exercise a great deal more control over the process and/or make the videos
ourselves if we wanted the next one to be better.
Sleepwalk: Sleepwalk was our introduction to Chrysalis Records and our very
first recording with Midge. Conny Plank came over to engineer and we took about
three days on it. Rather than do the usual three songs demo tape, we thought,
Bugger it..., and opted to use our studio time to record one song to finished status.
The gamble worked and we clinched our deal with the label. Later, when we took the
album tapes to Connys studio to mix everything, we decided to mix it again purely
for the sake of integration with the sound we were achieving with the other tracks.
Theres virtually no difference between the original (unreleased) version and the
album version except that the LP version is perhaps less poppy (the 7-inch mix was
same as the album mix). From my own standpoint, I personally was especially proud

40

Ultravox: The Story

1977

February 4
The first Ultravox! single Dangerous
Rhythm/My Sex
The Feb. 26th, 1977 Sounds review said...
Debut Single & Eno Production of the Week. Dangerous Rhythm (Island). They
might be rather like a younger early days Roxy Music but, oh my, what a good
model to copy. And their very youth bestows upon them a direct brashness
missing in the recent Roxy. Rich emetic bass, precise Ringo drums, synthesiser
cascades and Enos hand in the production make this the best and most confident
debut single since Anarchy.

Here is the Record Mirror March 12, 1977 singles review...

Dangerous Rhythm (Island WIP 6375) Cosmic reggae, if thats possible. Heavier
than lead bass and ice-cold vocals. Very weird and wonderful. **** (four stars)

The New Musical Express said...

By far their most memorable number, a reggae abstraction, mesmeric, simple,
and subliminal, with Ferried vocals.

It appears they dont hate us quite yet. I wonder what it was we said later on...?!
Dangerous Rhythm was a fun song and enjoyable to play live. I believe it was one of
the songs on the demo tape which first got Island Records attention. I remember the
first time we recorded it; it was a demo which we did with Steve Lillywhite at the old
Phonogram Studios just down from Marble Arch. He had been working there,
alternating between engineering Status Quo one day and Rolf Harris the next. I had
met Steve after being introduced by a mutual friend. He only looked about fifteen! He
used to bring us in on the weekends and wed borrow the studio to try out some of
our songs. Wed just do whatever we wantedwe learned a lot about the recording
process doing that.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

It didnt get much better later on, either. We just had more incredibly expensive
items of evermore complicated equipment to screw up. Only at the very end of the
band did all this start to come together in a more reliable way. Even so, I remember
that when we played Live Aid, three of the four songs in our set required things
being triggered and all we could think of was, Pleeeease dont let anything break!
The recording of the Vienna album allowed us to put to use everything that
wed learned so far. The mixing sessions at Connys studio took us about two weeks,
there was a good atmosphere and work went very smoothly.

Lonely Hunter, Life at Rainbows End, I Want To Be a Machine (another of

our earliest songs) and Dangerous Rhythm were all written and performed live
long before we had our Island Records contract. They were, in fact, many of the songs
which we performed at the private showcase gig we did on Island Records own
premises (their conference room, I believe) which helped us secure our deal. Theyd
liked the demos we gave them but wanted to see us play. We didnt have a gig lined
up so they said, ...OK, bring your equipment here and play. That sort of thing doesnt
happen much any more.
Slipaway was a more recent song, as was Wide Boys and Satd ay Night. We
had either written them recently or were in the process of writing them as we got our
contract. Since we were told wed be signed, we went into their basement recording
studio at Island Records, Hammersmith, and started recording the album before wed
even seen the contract. I recall that eventuallly we interrupted a session one day to go
upstairs and do the contractual business. My Sex came about while we were in the
studio.
We had the studio from noon to midnight, then the Rolling Stones had it from
midnight till noon. They were listening to their live tapes to vet which tracks would
be possibles for inclusion on a live album. One day we walked in and Keith Richard
was soundly asleep in the control room chair. We tried to wake him but he was really

I thought, Fantastic!
Keiths foot is tapping to
my snare drum!! After
about a half an hour, he
suddenly woke up...

out of it. We didnt know what to dowe wanted to work, but we didnt want to
disturb him, and we certainly werent about to kick his chair and shout Wake up!!!
Finally we decided to just start working around him. As the tape was rolling, I could
see his foot tapping to the music. I thought, Fantastic! Keiths foot is tapping to my
snare drum!! After about half an hour, he suddenly woke up. He sat bolt upright,
looked around for a second, said Ahh...sorry..., grabbed his bottle of Jack Daniels and
was out the door.
We recorded two other songs which were not included on the final release: City
Doesnt Care and Car Crash Flashback. They were both two new songs but they
didnt make the cut because we felt wed moved on from the feel of the two tracks
they werent as relevant as the final choices. By the way, throughout the bands history
we never made a habit of recording lots of extra material so this sort of thing didnt
happen often. Wed work on material until we were happy with it and it was either
ready to release, or it was erased.

38

Ultravox: The Story

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

11

amplification of a guitar amp or through a studio monitor, but through the microscope of multi-thousands of watts of amplification afforded through a big PA at a gig,
it would sound like a gigantic beach ball going Boiiinng! I was able to harden the bass
drum and snare (something I was always trying to find ways of doing with these soft
sounds).
One of people Id turned to for assistance was the in-house repairs engineer at
Rolands London facility. He was intrigued with my usage of the machine and was
keen to help. It was far more fun than fixing broken electric pianos. It seems this did
not go down too well with the powers-that-be and the chief executive at Roland, Fred
Mund, ordered him to have nothing further to do with meI was wasting their time.
Unless my equipment was actually broken, I was persona non grata. As the equipment
was so modified by this time, I think the view was that it was outside of their
warrantee, permanently broken down, and no longer their problem!
As we had a huge hit with Vienna featuring Rolands CR-78, I feel that was a
very mean and short-sighted decision. I quickly found another electronics boffin to
collaborate with, Pete Wood, and we carried on experimenting and tinkering with my
ideas.
One unforeseen development led to an interesting solution. I had people coming
up to me after gigs asking me what the hell I had been doing during some of the
songsthe songs where I was running the machines. From their point of view, theyd
seen me stop playing the drums, casually leaning over to my left and, apparently,
doing nothing. One person even asked me if Id been reading a book! I was astonished
but, in these early days, people didnt necessarily immediately connect the sounds
with what I was doing.
This would never do, so I decided to implement a little showmanship.
I got rid of the wooden cases that housed the TR-77 and CR-78, replacing them
with clear perspex cases, and had a series of different coloured LEDs (light emitting
diodes) wired up inside so they would wink and flash in time with various components of the selected rhythm being played. Absolutely useless, but very impressive
looking on a darkened stage. Now it would be obvious I was actually doing something. It certainly worked, as I was now regaled with questions about the drum
machines.
One of the aspects of the Mini-Moog that fascinated us was its ability to pump
out a stream of steady eighth-notes. By keying different notes, a bass line was
produced with the unwavering perfect tempo of the machine. Like the drum
machines, this rock solid tempo had a hypnotic element to it that mesmerised. It was
the source of Sleepwalk, New Europeans, and All Stood Still. For the time being, I
had to play acoustic drums to it as there was no way of us syncing it to my drum
machines. But that was no problemwe were enthralled with the sound as it was.
We adapted the LED tempo read-out idea to also fit a display to Chris Moog. He
was able to have more predictable control over the tempo of the pulses. Eventually,
we found a way of connecting the drum machine to the Moog so that the pulsing
bass line would be in sync with the drum machine. Even when I was playing my drums

36

Ultravox: The Story

This was also approximately during the peak of the audience-gobbing-spit-ontobands phase. Whenever we swung into Young Savage, the ever present hail of gob
turned into a torrent. Its insane to look back and know that this disgusting practise
was actually supposed to represent praise!
There was an occasion when I noticed, as I played away, that there was one
bugger in the audience down at the front who was not spitting away willy-nilly with
abandon in the heat of the moment, he was calmly and calculatedly targeting Chris
Cross. Hed repeatedly hit him in the face, then work up his ammunition for another
salvo. Poor Chris was so into playing and singing (rocket scientists will acknowledge
that you have to open your mouth wide to sing... ugh!!!) that he was oblivious to it. I
couldnt very well go over and sort him out as I didnt want to stop the song, so I let
fly with a drumstick and caught the moron straight in the face with it. Stunned, he
looked at me as I gave him the evil eye. He got the message and disappeared into the
crowd. I dont think I told Chris about it until some considerable time after!

...I didnt want to stop

the song, so I let fly with
a drumstick and caught
the moron straight in
the face with it.

Regarding Slipaway (Live at The Rainbow)the B-side. When we formed the

band, we were sick of the bloated virtuoso musicianship and forty minute songs many
of the big respected groups had made their stock-in-trade. We worked exclusively
on short songs with structures influenced by classic 50s & 60s pop. We were trying
to achieve a twisted but seamless alchemy between melodies reminiscent of the high
drama of Roy Orbison, the rawness and aggression of the Stones or The Velvets, and
lyrics beyond Bowie or Bolan. As we worked through that phase, we began to develop
past the two and half minute/three minute single with a four bar solo (8 bars max!)
to more intricate and extended arrangements of five minutes or so. I Want To Be A
Machine and Slipaway were among the first of these.
Naturally, this coincided with the time everyone else seemed to belatedly
discover the joys of the short succinct pop song and we got slammed for not playing
material that consisted of a verse and three choruses!
The Rainbow Theatre in North London had been a long established rock venue,
lots of very famous bands played there, and when we were told wed be playing the
Rainbow (albeit as support for Islands Eddie & The Hot Rods) we felt like wed really
arrived. This would be the biggest gig wed ever played.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

13

Midge primarily used his Yamaha SG-2000 guitar through his Vox AC-30 amp and
Chris used a Yamaha bass (his Gibson EB-O hadnt been used for ages) through
whatever was handy. Of course, Chris also used a Mini-Moog for a lot of the bass
parts.
Basically, we used what was available (and/or what we could afford) at the time.
The only real one-of-a kind stuff we used was the sequencing stuff I designed and had
our tech build. This was used to trigger the Mini-Moog from my drum machines
which were also heavily altered. Remember, this was all before the luxury of MIDI. The

...Id always viewed drum

machines as synths in
their own rightsynths
that were focused upon
one aspect: percussion.

custom equipment features are no longer relevant, as any drum machine nowadays
has all of the features (and many more)! I had to improvise and can, naturally, trigger/
clock any synth you connect it to.
Im a self-taught musician and have never had any formal training. I just listened
to records and attempted to copy those who I admired and/or the stuff that I
thought sounded cool. My favourite drummers were all classic players from the great
days of British rock & pop such as Charlie Watts, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, John
Bonham, Kenny Jones. Id always been captivated by technologywhen it started to
encroach upon the world of music I was totally into it. I started out a conventional
player, but found electronics insanely fascinating.
Any instrument or piece of equipment has a personality which is equally
dependent upon its flaws as it is upon its assets, and never more so than where
synths are concerned. The equipment we used had lots of good points, as far as the
state of technology allowed at the time, but it all had flaws and quirks that used to
drive us crazy. And, ironically, many of the flaws are what contributed to the character
of the overall sound.
From the very start, Id always viewed drum machines as synths in their own
rightsynths that were focused upon one aspect: percussion. At some point before
recording Vienna, Id acquired Rolands newest drum machine offering, the infamous
CR-78. It was almost cube shaped, approximately 12" x 10" x 10". It was still in that
awful walnut veneer covered box, and still offered push-button pre-sets for Fox Trots,
Sambas, and Tangos. The tempo was set by turning a knob, but was still horrendously
touchy. If you even looked at it the tempo changed. The sounds were still analog
representations. It wasnt all that much better, but it did sport a radical new facility: by

34

Ultravox: The Story

somehow, ultimately, ended up being the mix(s) which were used. I think we never
did any proper mixes of the Rainbow gig. Its probably better that way.
I have a cassette dated 19/2/77 from that session in the studio. The songs are:
Life At Rainbows End/Came Back Here To Meet You/Wide Boys/Satd ay Night/Lonely
Hunter/Modern Love/Dangerous Rhythm/Slipaway/TV Orphans/The Riff/ The Wild,
The Beautiful, and The Damned.
Its a fun tape, perhaps one day the songs will be released in their entirety.

October 14
The second Ultravox! LP HA! HA! HA!
Ha! Ha! Ha! marked our first real experimenting with fully electronic instruments via the incorporation of synthesizers and a drum
machine.
Now that we had a recording contract and had access to modest amounts of
money we, naturally, updated our equipment. The instrument/equipment technology
of the time was still very basic: guitars, amps, acoustic drums, basic electric pianos
and organs. Certainly no MIDI! Mini-Moogs were a very rare and exotic beastie. While
our guitars, amps, and drums were pretty much standard stuff, there really wasnt
much we desired that was readily available. We certainly werent about to go buy a
Mellotron, although if we could have afforded it (and the support infrastructure to go
along with it) we just might have been mad enough.
Chris had bought our very first synth, an EMS Synthi. It was a strange contraption contained in a briefcase with the keyboard being a flat plate on the inside of
the lid! It was weird and wonderful but highly tempermental and very unstable. It had
to warm up for about an hour and, even then, would never hold its tuning. About all
it was ever used for was sound effects which didnt require being in tune.
Bill invested in a more professional electric violin set-up to replace the old banger
with a crude pick-up stuck under the bridge that hed been using previously. The
Crumar electric piano wed bought with the Aint Misbehavin money had long since
died a death, but I cant exactly remember what he replaced it with. It was some kind
of electric piano that also had some string (note the quotation marks) settings on it
which we used quite a lot. The real jewel was a new ARP Odessy Mk. 1 synth. While
pretty much useless for accompanyment, it ultimately proved to be an incredibly
expressive source of solo sounds which we used on many songs to come.
We often were heavily criticised for using a synthesizer at gigs (perhaps as yet it
wasnt so obvious on the recordings). Considering our approach to using one, this
totally baffled us. How could anyone be so stick-in-the-mud? The ARP was capable of
the wildest most outrageous sounds wed ever heardreal pin-your-skull-againstthe-back-wall and blow-your-brain-cells-out-through-the-fresh-holes-in-youreardrums type of noises. How could anyone think that was effete and arty? So wed
just play louder to help them figure it out.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

15

and became interested enough to give us some studio time in order to do demos. We
went into the studio with Conny Plank as engineer and decided not to do the usual
thing of recording three songs to demo status. We would use the allotted studio
time to concentrate on doing one song well and hand them a master. We recorded
Sleepwalk and Chrysalis offered us a contract.
Our choice of again working with Conny Plank as engineer/co-producer was
unanimous. We all felt that our experience with him during Systems was a good one
and that the relationship should be expanded. From the very first days of the band,
wed been commited to mastering recording techniquesnot just to become adept
at capturing our ideas, but to expand upon them and use the studio itself as an
extension of the creative process. Conny was the man who had the combined
aesthetic zeal and technical ability to help us achieve this.
We went back into writing/rehearsals and came up with Passing Strangers,
Western Promise, and Vienna. Our method of writing was a simple one: we would
jam about with our collective ideas and throw things back and forth until something
sparked. Wed take the idea, work on it, and polish into a song structure. At this point
it would still be in instrumental formwe would generally let the mood of the piece
dictate the direction of the lyrics.
For the most part, Id have a cassette machine running all the time. Its the only
way to achieve any objectivity. In the midst of actually playing something you cant
listen to it with the same degree of acuity as you can when youre listening to it back.
It helped us tailor and craft the music. Or, sometimes an idea which we thought was

...we would jam about

with our collective
ideas and throw things
back and forth until
something sparked.

merely ...OK... would present an entirely new perspective later on. Which isnt at all
surprising, if you play every permutation of an idea for three or four hours over and
over again while you explore its possibilities. You can get dulled and immune to its
appeal. When you listen to it fresh the next day, you can more truthfully gauge its
potential.
While it was prudent to do our demos for Chrysalis with Conny in London, it
was always our intention to work in his studio in Germany. For reasons unclear to me
now, but probably due to budget, we did the actual laying down of tracks for the first
album in London at RAK Studios (one of the highlights of which was owner, Mickie
Most, making us a curry one day for lunch), and put all of the tracks down in ten

32

Ultravox: The Story

The very first song we recorded with it was Hiroshima Mon Amour. Wed
previously done a demo of Hiroshima Mon Amour in a rocker type of arrangement
but it presented an ideal opportunity to try out the drum machine, so it was
rearranged for the TR-77. We were in Phonogram studios and C.C. (his initials only
coincidentally the same as Chris Cross), a sax playing friend of Bill and Eddie Maelove,
was invited down to blow over the track to see what would happen.... Normally, we
never wanted anything on our records that we hadnt actually played ourselves but
this time we were prepared to make an exception if it sounded good. The backing
track was played to C.C. a few times in the control room for him to listen to, then he
went into the studio and did two takes. We chose the first take.
The TR-77 was a doorway into a whole new world for us As we got more into it,
it was also used on Quiet Man and in our live set for Hes A Liquid, and Touch
and Go.
ROckwrok: I dont recall much about the recording of this song but I can tell
you that I borrowed the drum beat from a rather unlikely sourceits the same
rhythm as Lets Twist Again by Chubby Checker! Just goes to show how important
context can be.
We were very excited to hear this played on the BBC, not only because it was
one of our songs but because they apparently hadnt noticed the naughty lyric. It was
very amusing to hear Aunty Beeb playing a song which screamed Fuck like a dog... in
the chorus. Either there were subversive elements looking after us, or they were
asleep. You decide.
Regarding the unusual spelling of ROckwrok. It was spelled that way simply
because thats how John Foxx wrote out the song information for the sleeve, he
wanted it spelled in that particular fashion. I can only presume he thought it looked
better that way.
The Frozen Ones: The ending fade on this song reflected something wed
often do. When recording the backing track, after having repeated the chorus a few
times, of a song we knew wed fade out, wed begin to just let rip until we were going
crazy and not stop in the studio until either one of us made a colossal mistake or we
got tired or fell about laughing. Or all three. Sometimes the greatest bits of the song
were unuseable because theyd occurred two minutes after the song had ended.
Fear in the Western World: The feedback section at the end of this song was
almost an entity unto itself; we had about five minutes of it and came close to giving
it a title and putting it on the albulm as is. Why didnt we? As much fun and
anarchic as that wouldve been, we realised that much of the public might not think
so after a few listens (we thought it got better with each listen) and, mainly, we
thought it too self-indulgent of us to take up a whole songs space on an albulm with
such an extreme piece. Unlike the critics, whom we were only too happy to piss off,
the people who bought our records paid for them out of their own pockets. Still, it
was always extended live to the pain threshold and beyond!
Distant Smile: The feedback provided a great segue into A Distant Smile, like
tumbling through chaos into a lake of serenity. We did some recording trickery on the

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

17

We never did any more gigs with Zaines band but we helped him work on his
next album. Ultravox was still in the process of regrouping so I had the spare time.
This time around we were determined to have proper representation and began
looking for a manager. We approached Thin Lizzys management team of Chris
Morrison and Chris ODonnell, and they were impressed with the fact that wed
managed to do an American tour with no record company tour support, no new
album, and still turned a modest profit. Their interest wasnt like they immediately
wanted to manage us and said, Sign here..., but more a matter of agreeing to try and
help us out. As our involvement deepened, one thing lead to another and, gradually,
they were effectively managing us. Much later on, I think it was after the release of
Vienna at the very least, we actually got around to formalising the agreement. Our
success was preceeding us but we now had established and respected professional
management.

Autumn
The new album starts taking shape
We started writing and rehearsing, all the while
trying to keep this news reasonably quiet, as Midge still had some lingering legal
problems to sort out due to his past involvements. This was frustrating as I wanted to
let people know the band wasnt dead but, for fairly obvious reasons, we thought it
wiser if we kept a low profile to help him resolve the situation. Nothing can throw a
spanner in the works quite like old business partners who smell money.
We worked on songs that became the bulk of the first album, Vienna, though
the title track was yet to be written. We wrote Astradyne, New Europeans, Mr. X.
during this period, certainly, though Im a little hazy as to just when we wrote Private
Lives, Passing Strangers, and All Stood Still. Those may have been written then, or
during our next writing sessions which took place after wed returned from America.
The music was, to us, a continuation of the things that we were interested in and
what we wanted to hear. It reflected a stylistic change because Midges singing was
very different from John Foxxs, plus Midge was the best guitarist wed ever had. Still,
we kept following the areas of sound that excited us. The chemistry within the band
was now very different, but it enabled Bill, Chris, and myself to enjoy ourselves much
more.
While our first writing sessions were certainly exciting and generally very
productive, not everything we worked on during this period gelled. There was one
instrumental piece that Midge had brought in which we played about with for some
timeit was great fun to play (the riff rather reminded me of the Glitter Band, of
whom I was a huge fan)but for some reason it never really came together for us and
we dropped it from our works-in-progress repertoire. Midge reprised the idea years
later with Phil Lynott and it became Yellow Pearl.

30

Ultravox: The Story

1978
Live EP Retro EP

The Man Who Dies Every Day & My Sex

live at the Huddersfield Poly: I cant recall anything specific about the recording of
those two tracks, we did a lot of Polytechnic gigs and that was...one of them.
The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damnedlive at The Rainbow, London: I
covered this one in earlier comments.
Young Savagelive at The Marquee, London: This is my all-time-favourite
live recording of ours and perfectly captures the energy of those Marquee gigs. Its a
shame the whole EP wasnt from the Marquee. There must be more of that stuff
buried in Islands vaults somewhere. It should be releasedwarts and all!

Guitarist Steve Shears leavs Ultravox

By the time wed mostly finished the touring for
Ha! Ha! Ha! and began casting our thoughts towards the next album, we knew it was
time for changes to be made. While a loyal and dependable band-mate, Steve Shears
style of guitar playing had for some time become an increasingly limiting factor in
how we arranged the songs and it appeared that the only solution was a parting of
ways.
While younger than us and relatively inexperienced, Robin Simon was invited to
join and the difference was invigorating. He had an accomplished and fluid style
which I think is immediately apparent on our first recorded work with him, Systems
of Romance. As I recall, he had ten days to learn our songs and then immediately
found himself in Holland with us doing a tour. In at the deep end.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

19

It became clear that the ideal solution for us was to find a lead guitarist who was
also a singer. This had the benefit of ensuring that the singer could relate to us on an
additional level as an instrumentalistsomething which wed found lacking and
uncomfortable before. We were determined to avoid the lead-singer-from-anotherplanet syndrome. Bill had been spending time with Rusty Egan (Rich Kids) and,
through Rusty, was introduced to Midge Ure. They were writing some songs together
in what ultimately became Visage. Rusty encouraged Bill to approach Midge about
joining Ultravox. He thought it would be a great match.
Bill subsequently introduced Midge to Chris and myself. Other than the usual
musical issues, my main concern was that Midge might have no sense of humour and
wasnt a fun guy. He had to: a) have a sense of humour, and b) like to drink, carouse,
carry-on, etc. This anxiety was quickly dispelled after an hour or two in a pub. As hes

...it quickly became

evident that Rusty
[Egan] was right
[Midge] truly was an
excellent guitarist.

somewhat small of stature, I tested him with every short joke I knew (Do you buy
furniture from Airfix?), and he could have a laugh about it. Plus he wasnt shy to get
in his share of rounds, and seemed like a straight enough chap at the time.
We had some rehearsals together and it quickly became evident that Rusty was
righthe truly was an excellent guitarist (and outside of Ultravox, prior/during/since,
Ive played with some great people)something usually overlooked in assessments of
him. And he could sing, as opposed to shout-with-attitude. With no reservations, we
resolved that wed found the right person to complete the new line-up of the band
and Midge was in. Wed decided to go for it, and all was more or less hunky-dory for
quite awhile.
One of the most refreshing aspects of our new band was that we all accredited
ourselves as writers. We were adamant there was to be no more arguing over who was
or wasnt responsible for what. In this healthy and equitable climate, ideas passed far
more freely from one to another, then on again to another, and so forth. We would all
make suggestions towards each others contributions, so much so, in fact, that the
only possible financial arrangement regarding the writing was to split everything
equally. It was a very sensible arrangement, but a rarity amongst bands. It ensured that
whatever else we might argue over in future days, it would never be over money. It
proved to be true for the life span of the group.

28

Ultravox: The Story

The reason we liked to release stuff on clear, translucent, or coloured vinyl went
far beyond merely having a cool looking record (although its indisputable that they
indeed looked great) or satiating the collectors. Like many artists at the time, we
wanted to release our music on the highest quality vinyl commercially available. After
all, the medium with which our music was brought into peoples lives was merely a
sharp needle bouncing along as it rode the ripples and waves of a groove dug into a
slab of plasticky stuff. (When you stop and think about itits an incredibly crude
process! I never ceased to wonder that it ever worked as well as it did.)
There were many technical aspects of record production that were beyond our
sphere of influence: where the records were pressed, how many shifts were being run,
vinyl stock being used, how long each record stayed in its mold, etc. We would be
present at the Mastering session but then the finished masters would go off to the
pressing plant. In time, we would be sent a white label test pressing to listen to and
if it sounded alright and didnt skip, wed pass it and that was it. On occasion, when
we requested a second or third test pressing to listen to, often as not it sounded just
like the first one!
Consider this: in the U.K., for example, there were only ever a finite amount of
record pressing plants at any given time (naturally), and these were responsible for
pressing everyones recordsnot just ours! At times of peak demand, each one would
be scrambling, working flat out to meet all their commitments. This happened often.
There was no consensus among record companies as to when they would release
records; generally they just did their own thing. True, the sales and marketing
departments would attempt to avoid any obvious potential clashes but, generally,

...sales and marketing

departments would attempt
to avoid any obvious potential
clashes but, generally, once a
release date was set and
planned around, that was it.

once a release date was set and planned around, that was it. There was tremendous
pressure brought to bear by all quarters to meet that date. If, say, it subsequently
transpired that Bruce Springstein had a mega-smash album about to come out during
that very same period, you could guarantee that his record company would bring
every ounce of their considerable power and influence to bear to ensure that every
single pressing plant they could get their hands on would be busy 24 hours a day
producing Bruces record so as to maximise initial sales. Factor in another mega-smash

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

21

For the longest time, many of our affairs were by default more or less managed
by the Director of Island Records, Richard Griffiths. Spot the conflict of interest.

February
First US tour starts
While disappointed and bewildered at being
dropped by our label just as we were beginning to break through in the U.K, we
thought that perhaps it was the best thing for us. To leave the label for a fresh start
somewhere else might be just the sort of jog we needed to make it the next rung up
the ladder. Ultimately, we decided that our next move should be to tour in America.
We were keen to go. We wanted to see how our music would be received and
thought that if things went well it would help us in our quest for a new label.
Island Records had believed that we could achieve nothing in America and
would never get on the radio. Chris Blackwell had given us tapes of American radio
which was nothing but disco and explained why he thought wed never get airplay
there. We didnt share his opinion that no one was interested and were determined to
go, with label help or otherwise.
We connected with Miles Copeland and organised a Club Tour of the U.S. at
minimum expense. Squeeze had just completed a tour there with no big-money
help from the record company to provide tour support, and this mold-breaking effort
was our inspiration. Bear in mind that, in 1979, this completely flew against all
conventional music biz rules and wisdom. To tour the States you absolutely needed to
have lots of financial backing from your record company and positively must be
promoting a new record. It just wasnt possible otherwise. We did it with neither.
In February, 1979, we flew over on the cheapest seats available from Laker
Airlines (remember them?), with a bare-bones set of equipment paid for as excess
baggage.
We took no lighting or P.A. equipmentit wouldve been far too expensive to
hire and transport around. We elected to use whatever was available in the clubs we
were to play in. Besides my usual kit, I was still using the Roland TR-77 drum machine
through some guitar pedals and an H&H 100-watt guitar amp. As for us, we drove
ourselves (literally) from gig to gig in either a hired van or an estate car, which is called
a station wagon in the U.S. Our live set was:
Man Who Dies Every Day
Slipaway
Slow Motion
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Touch & Go
Artificial Life
Just For A Moment
My Sex

26

Ultravox: The Story

Hes A Liquid
Quiet Men
Radio Beach
I Cant Stay Long
Someone Elses Clothes
Blue Light
ROckwrock

Our experiences from playing all over Europe, plus our serious disenchantment
with London and the U.K. in general, were the factors largely responsible for us
deciding to work with Conny Plank in his own studio near Kln (the little village of
Neunkirchen, to be exact). We wanted a new environment and our touring spectrum
proved to be the strongest indicator of where we thought our horizons and inspirations lay.
When we met Conny and discussed working together, we were impressed with
his attitude towards the shaping and sculpture of sound. He was unconventional yet
very down to earth. There were occasional hiccups due to language shortcomings on
both our parts but, after working together for only a short time, it became apparent
we were on the same wavelengthreally out there, but not painfully arty-farty, if you
like.
Fundamental recording techniques concerning the basicsdrums, bass, guitar,
keyboardswere for the most part fairly standard, but we experimented heavily with
treating everything. Id had interesting results putting drums through the usual reverb/
echo/phase/flange-type effects, and so decided to try distortionnot something
considered to be a plus for drums. We found that, in small amounts, it hardened up
the sound and gave the drums a real edge. One of Connys electronics people
modified a guitar distortion unit so it was optimal for drums, and we ran quite a few
tracks through it.
By the time wed reached the point where working with Conny on the new
album was imminent, wed long since coalesced our playing with Robin. While still raw
and spiky, his guitar style was mobile and technically more inspiring. Hed integrated
into the band very well and was able to bring many new textures to the arrangements.
I Cant Stay Long: I always liked this song. It had this huge great feel and was
very satisfying to play live. Had we stayed together for a few more years, we might, at
some point no doubt, have decided to revisit a song or two from the first three
albums as a surprise inclusion in our live set. I Cant Stay Long wouldve had my vote.
Im sure we wouldve more than done it justice the second time round.
When You Walk Through Me: I pinched the drum rhythm for this (oops, I
mean...this idea is a tribute) song from the Beatles Tomorrow Never Knows. I
always thought it was so obvious but no one ever asked me about it. Now you know.
Quiet Men: This was another song which we knew had that special something
about it. Obviously, you try to make every song an outstanding one but even with the
best will in the world, it never happens.
Just for a Moment/Dislocation: Contrary to what you might think, there is no
drum machine on Dislocation or Just For A Moment. The sounds were obtained
from ingenious and painstaking maltreatment of Bills ARP synth and the studio 24track tape machine.
We adjusted the synth to make an almighty percussive THUNK! (it was really a
fantastic soundbut so violent we had to tone it down a little to get it onto tape!),
and I stood there and keyed the synth manually, in tempo, for about four-plus
minutes as we recorded the sound. Then we fed the recorded Track #1 through the
desk, filtering and equalising the hell out of it until we eliminated almost all of the
Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

23

The following is the result of a series of

interviews I conducted with Warren Cann
via email over the course of several months.
Questions have been removed for the sake
of narrative flow.
Jonas Wrstad

To be continued...

Text Copyright 1997 Warren Cann and Jonas Wrstad.

No portion of this interview may be published in any form.
Design Copyright 2001 Christopher Watson.
Photos courtesy of Warren Cann, Chris Allen, Midge Ure,
and Cerise Reed. Copyrights retained by owners.

Ultravox: The Story

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

It was quite a scene; us in the midst of all of these bits and pieces of nude female
bodies, some with wigs, some bald, some upright, and many just stacked here and
there like stray firewood. It was such a sight we had some of our first photos taken
there.
We always told our friend that wed reimburse him when we made some
headway. When we signed our first record contract we were all very pleased to be
able to do just that. I cannot stress how important it was for us to be able to rehearse
and write songs undisturbed for three, four, or five nights a week. It gave us our start
and we were grateful.
Our very first gig of any kind was in Chorley, Lancs. We needed a warm-up/icebreaker of some description just before our first official gig which was at the London
Marquee supporting the Heavy Metal Kids (week of Aug. 24, 1974). Dennis had a
home-town connection, arranged a gig in a local youth clubs hall, and a week or so
before the Marquee date we drove up there for our first public appearance.

We didnt know that

[Billy] could also play
a piano... You can?!
Why didnt you say
so!?

Our second proper gig was shortly afterwards, also at the Marquee, supporting
Chris Speddings band, Sharks.
We did these gigs as a four-piece. Billy Currie was not yet in the bandhe didnt
join until some months (Oct./Nov.?) later. As a result of these first gigs, we realised
that we had a rather more ambitious sound in mind than a single guitar/bass/drums
outfit could put out. We started looking for another member and eventually found
Bill.
He initially just played the violin in a few songs. We didnt know that he could
also play a piano... You can?! Why didnt you say so!? Shortly after we found out, we
did that Aint Misbehavin thing so as to get the money for Bill to buy a Crummar
electric piano (it did the trick at the time, but what a piece of junk that was!). The
whole band used to go through Stevies Selmer guitar amp.

Ultravox: The Story

Keep Talking wasnt even a demo, it was a jam that wed recorded during
rehearsals on my little Pro Walkman. It was completely spontaneous, and we later
discovered that there were a few sounds in there that we had absolutely no idea of
how to get again. In particular a strange synth noise that seemed to sound vaguely like
someone speaking. After briefly trying to decipher the important elements of the
music and write a piece around it, we decided it had charm as a captured moment
and that itd be fun if we put the thing out just exactly as it was aswarts and allas
a glimpse into how we worked on our music. We transferred the cassette to multitrack tape and cleaned up the recording as best we could technically. That was it!
The title came about when one of us was on the telephone talking to Chrysalis
in London. They wanted to know what the title was going to be and were being very
persistent about it. The trouble was we hadnt really decided upon one. While we

The advent of 12-inch

singles coincided
nicely with our
attitudes concerning
B-sides.

were stalling with them on the line someone, who was very busy at the time, gestured
to the person on the phone and said, ...uh...just keep talking...keep talking.... Midge or
Chris (cant remember which) then said suddenly, ...thats it! Keep Talking! Thats the
title....
We were happy with the title. It fit perfectly with the aforementioned talking
sound on that track. A fine case of serendipity.
The advent of 12-inch singles coincided nicely with our attitudes concerning Bsides. We were music fans long before we were musicians and had many fond
memories of favourite singles that always had some interesting and obscure little gems
tucked away on the B-side; fascinating stuff which never appeared on the album and
often was even cooler than the A-sideeven if it wasnt as obviously commercial.
Now that we were making records of our own, we could continue this ourselves.
Rather than using them for throw-away material, we thought that B-sides were a
grand tradition; a situation where there were no boundaries and we could do
anything we felt like; an opportunity to do an oddity that might not necessarily fit
on an album.
At first, every time we went into the studio to do some B-sides/extra tracks, we
would start with a piece of music that wed been working on but hadnt finished. That
would be our starting point. It might be a piece we were still uncertain of, or a song
which we hadnt managed to find the heart of. Sometimes you feel you have all the

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

47

The plus side to this was that the studio time would be paid for, a record
release (though just a one-off) would happen, and (best of all from our point of view)
wed actually be getting paid some cash for it. That consideration overcame our
reservations about recording a song that wasnt our own so we said wed do it. It was
only a few hundred pounds but we knew just what we were going to do with the
moneybuy Billy an electric piano so he wouldnt have to stand around during the
majority of our repertoire when he wasnt playing violin.
We worked on our version at Modrenos. It didnt take too long to come up with
an arrangement that we were satisfied with, then we worked on polishing up our
arrangement of the B-side (Monkey Jive). We were much more excited at the
prospect of recording one of our own songs and seeing it on a record!
I think we recorded it at the famous Olympic Studios. I remember walking in and
feeling like I was treading in the hallowed halls where so much great music had been
recorded.
I have never seen the movie so I dont know how or where in the film the single
is used, or even if its used in the movie at all! George Melly also recorded the song at
that time and I have a suspicion that his was the version that was ultimately used. Still,
they paid for it. Id be surprised if they hadnt used it in the movie somewhere.

Ultravox: The Story

and famous of his time, I believe), did the sunset shot, and then dashed back to
London to start editing.
After a week or so prior to the records release, we started to get phone calls
from the record company regarding the video we were making. Once it was released,
and with each weeks growing success in the charts, the record company became
more and more frantic. Finally, they were going absolutely crazy trying to get us to
finish it so they could give it to Top Of The Pops. They were positively begging us for
it. Which, Im sure youll understand, was very gratifying for us after the indifference
and negativity theyd initially shown.
They gladly paid for it, too. For those who are curious, it cost us in the region of
six or seven thousand pounds. Sorry, it didnt cost a lot of money. But the video
industry wasnt quite so greedy then.
Vienna single: Vienna was in the singles charts for fourteen weeks. It hung at
the number two position for longer than I care to remember, being kept from the
number one position primarily due to the re-release of a John Lennon song after his
recent death. It was incredibly frustrating. Then, during that last week, we heard from
an industry insider that Johns record had finally slipped. We thought, At last, we have
a chance! And, out of bloody nowhere, comes one-hit wonder Joe bloody Dolce.
Months later, we were in Australia touring when we were told that wed won the
Best British Single of the Year award for Vienna. We were very proud of that, and it
went some considerable way towards making up for never having gotten to Number
One.
Passionate Reply: The B-side of the 7-inch, Passionate Reply was a promising
song. Perhaps it needed some living with before we wouldve considered it finished.
As it was, we thought it made a good B-side. It was recorded while on tour in
America. We were in Florida when we were informed that we needed another track
for a B-side, so we booked time in a Miami studio, Criterion. I recall looking at a
studio wall covered with gold records by the Bee-Gees, who had recorded many of
their disco hits there. We used a studio engineer and did it in a day (perhaps two, but
I cant remember exactly, and our schedule would not have tended to allow the
luxury of much time off).
Herr X: During the mixing of the album, I had the idea to do another version of
Mr. X in German. I thought it would be fun, make a great B-side or extra 12-inch
track, and not take too much time away from our mixing schedule. The others agreed.
My German had been progressing very well, but this was beyond me, so I asked
Connys wife, Krista, to help me with the translation. Conny double-checked it. He
thought it was faithful to the English version, so one afternoon I went into the studio
and did Herr X (with Conny as pronunciation coach to keep me on track).
It was the only time we did a song in another language, and I like to think of it as
a tribute to the support our German fans had always shown us. The mix between it
and the English-speaking version is identical. It was only the vocal track that was
changed. If you listen carefully to either of them (we didnt quite make it loud
enough), you can hear the snaps of a reflex camera shutter at one point. It was
released as the B-side of the 12-inch Vienna single.
Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

45

The section on us, read:

Name Unknown: The Wild, the Beautiful, and the Damned. The first time the
band have been heard on record. They are a brand-new British group whose
debut album, from which this track has been taken, is currently being produced
by Brian Eno. The band is as yet unnamed.

See...there they go, doing it again! Or, for the first timedepending how you
look at it. We produced the record, gave Steve Lillywhite and Brian Eno credit as coproducers, and all they ever say is produced by Eno. It makes me angry because it is
no more accurate than it is true. The record company had a name involved with the
record, so thats what they pushed in order to boost its interest and sales.
The Wild, The Beautiful and the Damned was one of the very first songs we
wrote. Because we werent doing gigs (we didnt want to play live until we were able
to do it our way, and were determined to not get caught up in pub rock, which we

...all they ever say is

produced by Eno. It
makes me angry
because it is no more
accurate than it is true.

hatedwe later modified our stance slightly and played in some pubswe were just
too curious to see how our stuff would go down in front of an audience), we wrote
scores and scores of songs during our Modreno phase. Wed write a song, try to
perfect it, then move on to another song, then wed go back and dissect the previous
song and either make it better or salvage its best elements and proceed to incorporate them into the newer song, leaving the shell behind. It was great experience at the
art and craft of song writing. The Wild, The Beautiful and the Damned came
together after a week or two of constant experimenting with its essential elements.
But once we felt we had it, that was basically it and it never changed after that. We
felt that the song represented at the time, as much as any one song could, what we
were all about. And we always knew it would be a must choice when it came time
to record an album.
Brian Eno was a very interesting gentleman and a great character. Our experience
of working with him was quite enlightening and a pleasureable experiment. I do not
regret it and Im sure the others would agree. But it was absolutely not what we had
actually envisaged. We had been under the impression, due to Brians image from
Roxy, that he was a real technical-type who had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve
regarding the studio and in the realm of production technique. We were hungry to
learn how to push the boundaries of the studio environment and we thought that he

Ultravox: The Story

there and youre already vibed up for the show, its very easy to launch into a song
whose tempo was predetermined and unsusceptible to outside influence and
suddenly go, Arghhh...this is too slow!
The phenomenon of bands playing their material live much faster than it was
recorded is apparent to anyone whos been to a concert. Im not saying its good or
bad, just that its something the band has to come to terms with and make decisions
about as to what is acceptable excitement and what is improper for the feel of the
material. Push a song too far from the envelope it was written in and you lose more
than you gain.
We got used to it and adapted, somewhat like a pilot learning to believe his
instruments when his senses were telling him something else. After a bit of experimenting, we gradually managed to get comfortable working with the predetermined
tempos wed set when we were rational, instead of succumbing to the red mist of a
gig. We became confident with it and came to depend on it as a further aspect of
control during a performance. We spent a great deal of effort devising the running
order of our songs so that the set had an arc.
There were no unreleased tracks from the Vienna sessions. We went in with our
material well prepared and thats what we came out with. As happy as wed been with
Systems, we were even happier with Vienna on a multitude of levels.
Wed been through a lot to get there.

October 15
Passing Strangers released
During our stay with the label, the choice of
which material to release as singles was almost always ours alone. After the Passing
Strangers episode, we quickly learned to be firm about our decisions, and Chrysalis
(while occasionally making strong suggestions) went along with it. We always thought
we knew better and, for the most part, I think we were right.
The B-side on the 7-inch was a live recording of a song called Face to Face. It
was never recorded as a studio cut. It had seemed promising but just never came
together properly. At one point Billy was very keen about the prospect of playing
guitar in a few numbers. We found it difficult to share in his enthusiasm but didnt
really have the heart to discourage him. He acquired a pearl white Yamaha SG-100 and
his live debut was on that song. After some time, when the song hadnt exactly
developed to our liking (through no fault of Bills), we dropped it from our set. I
rather fancied that guitar, however, and after unsuccessfully attempting to pry it from
him, found one just like it years later in the Midlands. For me, a happy ending.
The B-side on the 12-inch was a live recording of Kings Lead Hat which was
also never recorded as a studio cut. We werent inclined to cover other artists songs,
but for a time this was just a bit of fun which we played only on encores. There were a
few U.K. shows where we played an impromptu version of Gary Glitters Rock & Roll
during the encore. I wish wed recorded and released that!
Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

43

To be fair, his name did help bring about some attention that might not
otherwise have been paid to us concerning that first album, but it had never been our
intention to do that.
Its just very irritating when critics later stated, regarding particular songs, The
hand of Eno is stamped all over this track, blah-blah-blah.... When, in fact, the song
was written and performed with no participation by Brian at all. Lazy journalism
strikes again.

of this song being our first single, as I had written the lyrics. We never made a video
for this song. It was all too early for Chrysalis.
Mr. X: If anyone is wondering who this song is about, I can at least tell them that
its certainly not about John Foxx, or Bowie, or any number of other candidates Ive
been asked about. While I believe I once explained the true origins of this song on a
radio show in the U.K., Ive since taken to keeping quiet about it. As time went by, its
become much more fun to never tell anyone who it is about. When asked, Ive always
answered truthfully, but its not the sort of thing that can be deciphered, which is
exactly the point of the song.
Im occasionally addressed with questions about the lineage of the last songs
written in the John Foxx era, Hes A Liquid and Touch & Go, and if theres any
relationship between them and Mr. X. No, none at all. Personally, I see no similaritiesbut thats just me. Of course, theres the denominator of having arranged and
played both songs. We played Touch & Go as well as Hes A Liquid on that first

As time went by, its

become much more
fun to never tell
anyone who [Mr. X] is
about.

1979 tour of America but, obviously, never recorded themwed split at the end of
the tour. Any credit whatsoever for our involvement in those two songs was conspicuously absent on Metamatic.
Did we consider recording either of them at this time? Most emphatically, no.
That was the absolute last thing we wouldve ever done! Waaaay beyond last, in fact.
We were so glad to be out of that situation we were not in the least inclined to
dispute the lack of any attributed writing credits (surprise, surprise), and just got on
with our lives in a far happier relationship.
Western Promise: We decided to record the drum tracks for Western Promise
in the reception area of the building, as the surroundings were all glass and polished
marbleexcellent for a hard drum sound. So as not to completely disrupt the staff,
we had to move the microphones and drums in at night to do the recording. The only
drawback to this was the front doors of the studio were by no means soundproof,
and the quiet residential area of St. Johns Wood was not going to take too kindly to
me bashing away. The first time we attempted it, the neighbours called the police and,
upon their arrival, they requested we cease and desist.
It was sounding so good we decided to not let this get in our way, so we
attempted it again the next evening. This time, we set everything up and were as
ready as could be before I actually started playing. I knew I had to get a good take

Ultravox: The Story

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

41

The studio was full of fantastic equipment; wonderful old analogue gear with
huge dials and levers that looked like they belonged on a car transmission. People
would pay a fortune for it all now. Their reverberation effects, rather than being
digital, were generated via huge steel and gold plates hidden in a chamber deep
beneath the building. It was the smoothest and greatest reverb Ive ever heard, then or
since. We experimented a lot and did our best to learn how to use it all. The tape
machines were in an adjacent room to the control room and the main mixing board.
In those days, there were no remote controls for operating the 24-track tape
machinesyou had to have someone sit there and manually run the machine as
instructions were shouted out to Stop!...Record!...Fast Forward!...Rewind! etc. We
used to take turns being the tape-op.
Phonogram Studios had a good atmosphere and we decided to go back to it to
record our second album, Ha! Ha! Ha! We had a real attitude at the time of fuck
everyone! and were keen to record it with just us and Steve. It felt very satisfying to
return as a proper, paying clientno more looking over our shoulders! One day, as I
was going into the studio, I saw the gorgeous actress who starred in a lot of the early
sixties Carry On movies, Fenella Fielding, coming down the steps. She lived in a
penthouse flat above the studio somewhere. She looked extremely glamourous
wearing a long black plastic coat and a huge droopy-brimmed black hat. I stepped
aside and held the gate open for her. She purred, Mmmm! Thank you, dear boy... in
her inimitable husky voice. Id have driven her anywhere she wanted to go, if Id had a
car....
Our environment and life style was our subject matteralmost everything on
the first album is about what it was like to be living in London at that time: Wide
Boys, Satday Night, The Wild, the Beautiful, and the Damned, I Want To Be a
Machine, in particular.

February 25
The first Ultravox! LP ULTRAVOX
The version of Satday Night in the City of the
Dead that went on the first album was the second version we cut. The first version is
essentially identical except that its shorter by about 40 seconds or so. We were keen
on it being a single but were told by the record company that at 2 min. 10 seconds-ish
it was far too short to be a single! It would interfere with the DJs playlist times (all
revolving around that 3 min. 20 sec. average) and throw them out of sync with a
minute of dead space or something. Whether it was true or not, I dont know (and
whos to say?in those days, there was a lot of weird stuff to contend with!!). But
rather than try to edit something togetherwe just recorded it again and made it
longer by putting in another verse or chorus or something. Perhaps it added around
20-30 seconds.

10

Ultravox: The Story

1980
June 6
Three Into One

Of course, after wed signed to Chrysalis we

werent surprised in the least to see Island Records try to cash in by releasing a
compilation of our older material. Wed been dumped by Island and not treated very
well (lets put it this waysome time later there was an out-of-court settlement with
Island Publishing). Once wed heard of the imminent release of a compilation, we had
an idea to exact a small but satisfying degree of reprisal.
Chris Cross and I used to pay visits to the Art Department at Island and talk to
the designer responsible for the sleeve. Feigning interest in their treatment of the
sleeve, wed encourage all of his worst ideas. When he told us he had this idea of
taking a photo of his girlfriend lit up by some car headlamps, wearing a sort of
costume..., we said, Brilliant! Thats the one!! (Ha! Ha! Ha!) Were we successful? That
sleeve speaks for itself.

June 16
First single for Chrysalis: Sleepwalk
For info on Sleepwalk, see track listing below.
The B-side to Sleepwalk was a track called Waiting. I cant remember where
we recorded it, but somehow I dont think it was during the RAK sessions. We knew it
was never a competitor for inclusion on the album, but thought it made a fine B-side.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

39

One further thing regarding the Ultravox! album. There is an interesting story
regarding our name which has never really seen the light of day. As regards to the
Island sampler having to put a Question Mark on the sleeve, instead of our name, its
been explained that it was because at that late date we hadnt finalised amongst
ourselves what name we would use. We knew that this was it, well be stuck with it,
and wanted to make a good choice. Obviously, our choice appears to have been a
good one and Ive personally always liked the name. What isnt known is what
happened shortly after that....
There was a collective sigh of relief from Island when we told them wed finalised
upon a name. Still, while we were working away in Islands basement studio, the suits
upstairs always kept calling down for further information for the record sleeve (i.e.,
our names).
Chris decided to have some fun and elected to call himself Chris Cross, while
Bill and Stevie stayed with their real names. I was undecided as yet. During one of our
sessions, the phone rang and Dennis picked it up. I heard him say to the caller, I
havent quite decided yet, Im thinking about perhaps using Johnny Vox or maybe
John Vox.... I could hardly believe my ears. The second I heard that I thought,
Argghhh!! If he does that, well forever be known as his backing band. I was very
upset about it and knew that my personal pride in the band and our collective morale
was on very thin ice (shades of things to come...). I had to think fast. I called over to
him and said, Tell them Im thinking about using Warren Ultra...!
Only when it was clear that Dennis had opted for Foxx did I state Id use my
real name. I think you get the picture. Ha! Ha! Ha! (pun intended)

May 28
The second Ultravox! single Young Savage
While not specifically about us personally,
Young Savage was quite autobiographical; it was our take on the maelstrom we were
in the centre of. It was one of my favourite songs and, though I usually always have
various criticisms and reservations about any of our recorded works, both the studio
and live versions of that song are just about spot on. Play it loud! Then turn it up
some more....
I dont recall much about the recording of Young Savage but I remember us
having a lot of fun playing it. That song was like a big Harleyyoud get on it and kick
it and rev it up until you were going like hell. There were times during playing Young
Savageespecially during some of the Marquee gigs where we had the place
crammed to where the Fire Marshals would have fitsthat due to all the people,
heat, and smoke, that I wished Id had an oxygen mask to take hits off of. Those gigs
were so intense and we were so wound up that when we came off, the backstage
dressing room looked like the boiler room of a torpedoed ship. Even the metal fittings
on all our equipment became pitted and rusting.

12

Ultravox: The Story

and wed muted the drum machine, we could start a song with the bass line at the
right tempo, for example, All Stood Still. This saved us a lot of flaffing about at the
beginning of a song while Chris tried to tame the tempo to the correct speed.
There was only so many things you could do with a constant stream of eighth
notes, even with Chris partially keying in notes, so I came up with a primitive
sequencer in order to introduce some syncopation into the bass lines. It had a series
of toggle switches on it that I could trip in a pre-determined series (i.e., On/On/On/
Off/On/On/Off/On). this gave us the bass line for things like Rage In Eden. It was
crude but it worked.
Prior to this I had gotten a hold of Dave Simmons very first product, It was
called the Clap Trap. I remember meeting him in the back of his record store, or
whatever it was, and getting this new gadget. It was a little black box that would
emulate the sound of hand-claps. You could plug a mic into it and have the sourcesignal, a snare drum for example, trigger the claps, or plug in a non-latching
foot-switch and do it yourself manually. I think its controls were threshold or gate,
for use with an external trigger, and pitch and thickness for the timbre and number
of claps. I used a foot switch, mainly, and was thus able to add another component to
some of the rhythms played. It was also relatively easy to connect it to one of the
drum machines to clock its tempo. This was done on Passionate Reply.
There was one time in Boston when it went sick and, figuring that we stood at
least a fair chance of having it mended by a synth-type guy, we took it to the local
Moog service technician. He said, What the #%@! is that?
I also used Simmons next development, the SDS-III. It was a unit which would
allow you to connect up to four pads and make electronic drum sounds. Still firmly
analog, but if you set the controls just right, it made quite a strong noise. This is the
sound heard at the intro of All Stood Still.
We were pushing the very limits of technology at the time, albeit without a big
budget (that came later). Its just that we were determined to play live what we had
created, rather than tone it down to a technically safer approximation, which we felt
was short-changing both ourselves and the audience. The major drawback being, of
course, that this stuff wasnt all that reliable within the secure confines of a studio
where one had the luxury of working outside of the boundaries of real-time. We were
using it live onstage with all its attendant hazards.
It got to where all our stuff interconnected together and we were up to our
ankles in leads on stage. From temperamental equipment which wasnt very stable in
nice safe warm studios (let alone being bounced all over the country in trucks, in
wildly fluctuating temperature extremes), to ignorant house electricians abruptly
shutting down the main power in the venue and scrambling the gears primitive
memories, to cassettes that wouldnt load their memory data properly and Techs
that didnt know what the hell to make of our stuff... Argghhhh! Its no wonder we
were slammed by some quarters for no sense of fun or humour onstage. We were too
worried it would all blow up in our faces at any moment, while we kept madly
concentrating on keeping it under control.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

37

Someone, somewhere, had ordained that the gig would be recorded. It was still a
time when mobile recording technology was the purview of heavy-duty money and
influence. I was very impressed to hear that the Rolling Stones mobile studio was to
be used. Wed never even seen one before, let alone been recorded by one.
We were at the gig early in the afternoon, we were keen to look around and take
all of this grand experience in! It was also vital to be available to jump in at a
moments notice to take our soundcheckwe wanted to be at our very best. We
ended up sitting around all day for hours and hours as the mobiles engineers fiddled
and flaffed about setting everything up. I lived only a relatively short distance from
the Rainbow and had been constantly assured that wed have several hours to kill after
our soundcheck, before the gig, so I hadnt brought my stage clothes.
Time dragged on...and on...and on...but still no soundcheck. Finally, it was
obvious we werent going to get one. Typical. At this point, I still had plenty of time to
drive home and get my things so I said I would be back in an hour. I picked up my
clothes butguess what?? Halfway back to the Rainbow, the petrol pump on my old
banger of a car died and I was stranded! Desperate to get back to the theatre, I tried
hitching a ride as I walked but no one would pick me up. And there were no taxis to
be seen. Not good. Not good at all!
By the time I got back to the gig I was frantic and well late. Wed been due to go
on about half an hour earlier and when I tore into the backstage area I could hear the
audience was very restless. The rest of the band were standing by their gear going

Halfway back to the

Rainbow, the petrol
pump on my old banger
of a car died and I was
stranded!

crazy as I literally ran up to my kit and ripped off my jacket as the curtain began to
rise. The stamping and chanting crowd was ready!!! But they were ready for Eddie, not
us! Its the fate of every support band.
Between my mad dash to try and get back to the theatre in time, and the rest of
the bands worry, anxiety, and anger, we were so vibed up and full of adrenaline when
the curtain opened that we hit the first song like a downhill runaway train.
It was quite a show and probably one of our best gigs till then.
The whole of our set was recorded; while its remotely feasible that some of the
first numbers may have been unusable due to the engineers still getting the balances
together (a common occurrence), Im fairly certain it was alright from the very start. I
recall us only bothering to do a rough mix of the songs for listening purposes which

14

Ultravox: The Story

tapping on a little round rubber pad which you plugged in, you could program your
own rhythm into one of four memories. Happening!
Unless you were incredibly patient and fastidious with your finger tapping, the
programmed rhythms were often quite shaky as there was absolutely no quantisation
or auto-correct facility, so it was best not to get too ambitious. It also had a nasty
habit of losing the contents of its memory at the slightest provocation.
Once, during a Hammersmith Odeon concert, we had reached the highly
charged peak of the set and were in the middle of Vienna. Bill had just started his
violin solo and the CR-78 choose that moment to just go totally berserk. It started
pouring out about six different rhythms simultaneously and all at double or triple
tempo. I was aghast and froze. All I could do was just stare at the thing in horror. It
certainly shook up the rest of the band. Though it was probably only for a fraction of
a second, it seemed like forever. They bravely carried on as best they could while this
thing threw a complete fit.
At times like this your mind goes into overdrive. I snapped out of it and ran over
all of the possible causes for it to go crazy. After checking all the options and deciding
that this time it was just simply out of my control, I did the only thing I could think of
to do which might actually have any result under the circumstancesI punched it as
hard as I could. Very technical. Nothing positive happened so I turned it off and
finished the song on my drums.
Many creative and technical frustrations regarding the TR-77 and CR-78 led me
into modifying them, and our adventures in techno-land really began. Fortunately, I
knew enough to be able to guide someone who really knew their electronics.
Engineers of the time were au fait with the technical aspects, but notoriously lost
when it came to actual creative applications.
We started with the number one pain in the neck, the tempo control. That
proved reasonably simple to desensitise. A second potentiometer was wired into the
circuit to give me a fine tune override. The original tempo control would get me to
the rough tempo and the second would allow me to zero in. But you cant fiddle
around like this live. You need to be able to start the song cold at exactly the right
speed without speeding up and slowing down until you get it right. We connected a
cheap electricians multi-meter sporting an LED display into the tempo circuit and set
it to measure the DC voltage. I got the tempos correct during rehearsals and made a
note of the measurements for each song. Though this was a totally arbitrary number
as far as beats per minute were concerned, the important thing was it was repeatable.
If Mr. X was, say, 11.42 volts, then all I had to do live was set it so the volt-meter
read 11.42 v, and the song would start at pretty much the right speed. We gaffa taped
the meter to the top of the drum machinenot an elegant solution overall, but it
worked.
After looking at the circuit boards of these drum machines, I discovered that the
analog circuits which made up the sounds (no samples stored in memory chips on
this stuff) had little ceramic trim potentiometers. What they were actually for I have
no idea but, by tweaking them, I could change the sounds slightly for the better. The
bass drum, for example, might sound moderately like a thump through the low
Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

35

Late in the writing and recording of Ha! Ha! Ha! I bought my first drum
machine, a Roland TR-77. This was approximately two feet wide by four inches high
by a foot deep, covered in a walnut wood veneer (wow!), and sporting a control fascia
covered in multiple sets of different coloured push-buttons for the rhythm presets. A
small chrome bar on its top left corner served as the Start/Stop switch (it wasnt a
mechanical switch as such, it initiated Stop/Start after it sensed being earthed by
being touchedtricky). There was a horizontal fader for volume, one for tempo, and
one for balance (introduced more percussion elementsi.e., maraccas or hi-hats,
thinning to just bass drum and snare). At the rear of the unit, there was a power cord

What we loved about it

was the mezmerizing
effect of the absolutely
constant perfect
rhythm/tempo.

and a single output jack. The front panel presets were labelled for such rhythms as
Waltz, Mambo, Rhumba, Cha-Cha, Bossa-Nova. It was designed to augment a pianist
or organist in, say, a small restaurant or lounge. Im sure a lot of ships orchestras used
them. It was entirely unprogrammable. Pretty damn basic but state-of-the-art in 1977!
What we loved about it was the mesmerizing effect of the absolutely constant
perfect rhythm/tempo. It never faltered, it just continued to hypnotically pump out
the rhythm. It fascinated me.
I soon discovered that if I held in the preset buttons, two or three or more at a
time (though Id quickly run out of fingers), I could get multiple rhythms which were
more usable than the straight individual presets. By popping the buttons in and out
like station surfing on an old car radio, and by constantly fiddling with the balance
control to fade between kick+snare to percussion, I could get some interesting stuff
going. To mutate the sound, I ran the output through some guitar FX boxes like
phase, flange, and distortion. Of course, there were no separate outputs for bass
drum/snare/hi-hats/etc. If you applied flange, you flanged everything whether you
liked it or not. I plugged the whole thing into an old H & H transistor guitar amp we
had that was spare and kept it all at my left side as I sat at my drum kit.
The tempo control was impossibly touchy; a millimeter too much one way or
the other and the tempo was way off its desired speed. Far too coarse. And that
bloody Start/Stop bar! You only had to accidentally graze it with the lightest of
touches and it would stop in the middle of the songand it happened a lot. Id then
have to carefully (and quickly!) time my touch so as to get it going again in time with
the band. If I got it wrong wed all be in a total mess with the beat.

16

Ultravox: The Story

days. The songs were all tight from our touring, and the newest songs were well
prepared from our writing/rehearsals.
While we were now using more synthesizers, as on our earlier albums we were
still using reasonably straightforward bass/drums/guitar recording techniques.
Keyboards were recorded both D.I.d (direct into the desk) and micd (loud amps!).
Recording FX were pretty much the usual tape and digital FX (though digital FX units
were in their relative infancy then), flanging, reverb, delay, chorus, etc. We liked to use
backwards reverbs (reverb applied normally but with the tape turned over and
running past the heads backwardswhen the tape is turned the right way round, the
reverb appears before the source sound), and were also fond of backwards guitars
and vocals. Sometimes we werent content with throwing in the kitchen sink. We
threw in every sink we could find.
From Day One of Tiger Lily, and throughout all of the John Foxx era band, I
played Ludwig drums augmented with Zildjian cymbals. The electronic elements of
my gear just grew and grew. I used some guitar FX pedals to run my drum machines
through (phase, flange, distortion, echo) from time to time (i.e., Mr. X). Every once in
awhile I would also run my acoustic drum kit through a distortion box to toughen up
the sound. There wasnt much we wouldnt put through a guitar FX pedal just to see
what it would sound like. We generally preferred to do this at source, rather than
afterwards via the desk. There was a great deal of EQ used on the drum machine
parts.
Multi-track recording is an additive process; every layer you put down dictates
the shape and attributes of every layer and element to come. Therefore its far easier in
the long run to get it right then and there instead of saying, Well fix that in the
mix. While some people prefer to record everything dry (without any FX or with FX
on a separate channel), when we recorded something with reverb or delay we
generally tended put that effect to tape rather than fiddle with the reverb later on. No
matter how simple the type of FX is (Oh, thats an easy one...we can get that again,
no problem.), you never do seem to get it exactly the same again, and the ripples
from that change affect everything else.
Billy was running his ARP synth through an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress
distortion box, and (I think) an MXR flanger. He used the studios piano and live
preferred a Yamaha electric piano because, at the time, it was the nearest thing to a
real piano (strings and a weighted keyboard). Besides his Elka String Machine, which
was used a lot on our earlier records, I think we used two Yamaha CS-20 or CS-40
(one of each?) string synths on this first album. We had a CS-80 for awhile, too. It was
fantastic but they are very rare today and seriously difficult to maintain. And
expensive.
Bill also ran his violin through a lot of effects pedals, mainly from ElectroHarmonix. He also had a Roland Space-Echo tape delay unit. The violin was
amplified via a Barcus-Berry pick-up attatched to the bridge. Later, he acquired an
electric violin which had the capacity to level buildings with a single blast.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

33

piano to provide the ambient pad floating in the background. We loved experimenting with textures to provide interesting vantages to view the carnage from.
The Man Who Dies Every Day: Bills synth was being incorporated into the
sound more and more, this is one of the songs that really pointed to where we
wanted to go in the future (and we knew it). The bass line is interesting in that it
could so obviously be a synth bass line. It has all the hallmarks of one, yet it was still
being played on bass guitar.
Artificial Life: I always think of this song as being heavily synth-based although,
oddly, its not; besides the string/piano sounds and the manic violin at the end, its
mostly guitar. But it is definitely catalysed by the synth. The more we got into it, the
more enthusiastic and excited by the possibilities we were. It was like a cranked up
electric guitar, only orders of magnitude more awesome and complex. To us, the
public still seemed to equate synthsizers with electronic music, i.e. beeps and robot
squawks. We thought music like this might begin to change that.
While Im Still Alive: While not without its charms, this is probably the
weakest song on the album and, to my mind, represented the last of where wed been.
How apt that its followed by Hiroshima Mon Amour, which represented where we
were going.
As far as our eliminating the exclamation mark is concerned, after Ultravox! and
Ha! Ha! Ha! wed had rather enough of exclamation marks. Besides, while fun in the
beginning, it was becoming more hassle to keep it than lose it, so we just dropped it.
Regarding the free single Modern Love (live) with initial copies of Ha! Ha! Ha!
Modern Love was from the Rainbow Theatre gig. While we liked it, wed never have
put it on an album so it was chosen to go on the free single. Quirks was a song wed
written which was, as they say, short and sweet. We were very fond of it. After the
SatDay Night songs too-short-and-awkward-to-place episode during the recording
of Ultravox! we werent particularly inclined to deliberately lengthen a song if its
duration had suggested itself naturally. So we left it alone. It was a natural for a B-side.

At this stage of the bands life, I was contributing to the lyric writing and wrote
the bulk of the lyrics to Sleepwalk, Mr. X. Private Lives, All Stood Still, and New
Europeans. Id always wanted to try my hand at it, and it helped take a some of the
initial pressure off of Midge. Once Midge had completely settled in, I withdrew and
left him to it. Id also decided that I probably wasnt very good at itcertainly not as
good as Id like to be.

December
Second US tour starts
As a band, we all had a lot of baggage to
contend with during those early days and thought that, if we were to have a chance,
we needed to be able to stretch our wings without being prematurely subjected to
the magnifying glass of the British music press. With this in mind, we set up a second
American tour, much along the lines of the first oneminimum equipment, play
clubs, expenses pared to the bone.
Before we left for America, we played four U.K. secret gigs (in November,
starting at Erics in Liverpool). This was to get a bit of a buzz going and show that the
band hadnt totally disappeared, plus we didnt want to go to the U.S. having never
been on stage with each other before. I remember we played at the Nottingham Boat
House and at the Liverpool Erics. The other two venues I forget. The set was a
mixture of mostly our new songs and a select few of the old ones (i.e., Slow Motion.)
We chose not to eliminate all previous songs from our set for two reasonsone
practical and one principled. We, as yet, hadnt written enough new material to play a
wholly new set, and we werent about to turn our backs upon our own heritage. There
was, of course, some shouting from elements of the audience for John Foxx but
Midge weathered the storm and we all had an exciting time.
The American tour gave us a chance to gel as a band and was a great start. It was
wild. We did something like 29 gigs in 32 days. There was one marathon drive we did
non-stop from Lawrence, Kansas to New Orleans. Upon arriving, we crawled out of
the car, cleaned ourselves up, and immediately set off to explore Bourbon Street. We
finished up with a series of gigs in Los Angeles at the Whisky A-Go-Go. The shows
were extended due to demand, so we ended up doing about seven shows there and
set some kind of record for the place.

Vienna
The recording process
Upon our return (from the second US tour), we
started looking for a label. To aid this, we made our London debut and did a one-off
gig at the Electric Ballroom on February 1, 1980. Chrysalis Records was courting us

18

Ultravox: The Story

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

31

August 4
Fourth single Slow Motion/Dislocation
Slow Motion was an extremely satisfying song
to write and play live. For me, it was just one of those songs where everything seems
to just fit together perfectly to form an entity greater than the sum of its parts. In its
time it perfectly represented our amalgamation of rock & synthesizer, many of the
ideas and aspirations we had for our music gelled in that song and we were very
excited about it.
Dislocation was the one song which was not written or sketched out prior to
entering the studio, it came about as a last minute accidental by-product of our work
on Just for a Moment. The bass drum of Just for a Moment is not an acoustic
drum or drum machine at all, its originally a sound from Bills ARP synth. During our
messing about with lots of FX and heavily treating variations of that particular sound,
we stumbled across the insistent repeating figure that forms the core of Dislocation.
It was such an inspirational sound we knew we had to do something with it so the
song was written entirely around it.
There was just one hitch, though. Wed discovered the sound while the 2-inch
multi-track tape for Just for a Moment was actually running. It was elements of that
track which were being fed back in upon themselves to shape and trigger the sound.
And we werent able to tell just exactly how it was happening. It was all routed
through the studio desk through such a labyrinth of effectseach in extremely
sensitive balance to each otherthat we couldnt figure out how to get the sound
any other way! We were stuck. We had this great sound and we couldnt be sure of
ever getting it again. After carefully examining our options we thought we might, with
time and patience, perhaps be able to get something quite similar to it but we didnt
think wed ever be able to get that exact sound and it was that exact sound we
wanted! What the hell could we do?
Our eventual solution was very unconventional. We put two songs on the same
piece of tape.
How was this possible? Well, as Just for a Moment was still incomplete, there
were enough as yet blank spaces on the tape in various locations for this to be
feasible. Extremely tricky, but feasible. While we were fortunate in that there were a
few of the 24 tracks still blank from top to tail, most tracks already had something
recorded on portions of themselves so we were limited to using these noncontiguous
sectors. Weaving the whole thing together was a real feat of juggling and mixing it all
would have been near impossible without the asset of Connys SSL computer-assisted
mixing desk (one of the first). More than a little brain damage went down but we
managed it and were thrilled with the final result. Had we not just then come to the
end of our studio time, we would have continued experimenting in that vein.

20

Ultravox: The Story

Summer
Ultravox goes solo for a while
In the interim period of trying to make our next
move, we had to support ourselves. This lead to an interesting series of temporary
gigs. Bill played with Gary Numan, Chris did some shows with guitarist James
Honeyman-Scott (the Pretenders) and singer Barry Masters (Eddie & the Hot
Rods), while Midge did U.S. and Japanese tours with Thin Lizzy (filling in for
guitarist Gary Moore), and I played with Zaine Griff.
Zaine was a very talented singer and his band was great fun. We did a few gigs to
prepare for playing the Marquee Club, August 24, 1979, and the Reading Festival on
August 26. It was through the Zaine Griff band that I met Hans Zimmer who was
playing synths. Hans and I hit it off and immediately became good friends. I ended up
involved in one of his projects and thus soon found myself on Top of The Pops
playing drums to Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles. At one point, we
were in the curious position of all being in the charts in other bands!
Heres a story from my A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Gig
memories from my time in Zaines band. We were in our dressing room at Reading
and, just prior to us going on stage, Hans came rushing up to me. He was totally
panicked and I asked him what was wrong. He gasped, The tape data isnt working! I
cant get it to load! Technology was primitive thenevery time you turned your
synths off all of the sounds and settings were instantly lost. You needed to record the
data onto a cassette tape and then have to load it all back in again after turning the
power on. Hed been backstage trying to load the sound/sequence data into the

I ended up involved in one of

[Hans Zimmers] projects, and
found myself on Top of The
Pops playing drums to Video
Killed the Radio Star....

synths memories via a little boom-box and it wasnt working. If we couldnt load in
the appropriate data we couldnt use his synths, and we wouldnt be able to play the
majority of the songs in our set. This was Very Bad News. Our big gig was looking like
it might be our big disaster.
I ran backstage with him and took a look. Hans was completely white and Im
sure my pallor wasnt far behind. I had a quick look, then said, Ah, I think I see the
problem.... I reached down and flicked the boom-box switch from Radio to Tape.
...that ought to do it. Little things... little things. Theyre the ones that get you.
Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

29

hit by another artist or two and the problem was compounded by orders of magnitude. Under such circumstances, our record (and a lot of other peoples) would just
have to get pressed whenever and wherever it could.
And that meant that it was likely that each one of our records might get popped
out of its mold a few seconds earlier than was usual. Shaving a second or two off each
record, multiplied by tens of thousand of records, amounts to a significant period of
time to aid the plant in juggling its obligations. And each not-as-stable-as-it-could-be
record would be just that much more prone to warping or skipping.
Plus, the vinyl was never all that great. If you look closely at the label on a mid/
late 60s record, you might see the tiny printed remark Dyna-Flex. Dyna-flex vinyl was
introduced as a great progressive leap forward from the thick, brittle and fragile vinyl
of before; you know youre holding a record made of it if you can bend it into a U
shape. Well, perhaps a ( shape. It didnt sound as good, but you could bend it! And
that, overall, meant fewer damaged returns to the companies. Hmm....
While the inner machinations of the pressing plants were beyond reach, it
nevertheless seemed like the moment an artist or group had garnered enough success
and attendant leverage to attempt to do so, would try to get their records released on
what was known as virgin vinyl (i.e., vinyl stock not contaminated by the ink, paper,
glue, etc. cocktail of previous/returned melted-down stock). This was virtually an
impossible quest and became somewhat of a Holy Grail to many people.
When, in turn, we made our own inquiries regarding its use, we were most
adamantly told that it was strictly for issuance to the classical music labels. Period.
Pop music was shit out of luck. It was a snob thing! One day it occurred to us, Hang
on a second.... Black vinyl doesnt start out that wayits dyed black to cover up its
origins. So, if we use clear vinyl (if its been mixed with anything else it wouldnt be
clear...duh!)prestoits virgin vinyl!!!
Hence, where possible (usually limited editions of 12-inch singles), we released
on clear or tinted vinyl. I like to believe it really made some degree of difference to the
listening quality of the records.

September 11
Third LP Systems of Romance
Systems of Romance was a pivotal album for
us. Our first album was our opportunity to record the best of the songs that wed
written since wed first formed the band, the second was progress for us and heavily
laced with attitude and adrenaline, but this new record gave us the feeling that we
were really beginning to carve out a niche for ourselves that was well and truly ours
and ours alone. We knew that we were really on the verge of somethingwhat,
exactly, we werent sure but the feeling was intoxicating. We were so pleased with the
album wed never have dreamed that the next year Island would subsequently drop us
from the label!

22

Ultravox: The Story

Basically a selection comprised of material from the latest album, Systems of

Romance, and a few songs from both Ha! Ha! Ha! and Ultravox! The new songs
included were ones wed been working on prior to the trip, Touch & Go, Hes A
Liquid, and Radio Beach (strange, I can recall nothing about this song).
We started off on the east coast. When playing in New York, I got out of the taxi
in front of the Hurrahs club and immediately stepped onto the white lines the
police use to distinguish the position of a body at a crime scene. I could still discern
what looked like traces of blood. Thinking this might not be too unusual an occurrence in New York City, I didnt pay any more attention to it until I started seeing
them all over the place. I thought, This place is more violent than I imagined! I found
out later that it was the work of an artist who was painting them all over the city.
We occasionally had support acts who were determined by the management of
the club. At Hurrahs, an interesting guy who professed to be a great fan of the band
supported us with his one-man show. He wore bandages and sunglasses like the
Invisible Man, he was called Nash The Slash. There was one show in the mid-west
where we shared the bill with The Police due to the Copeland connection.
Working our way from east to west, we ended up in San Francisco at the Old
Waldorf in March prior to travelling down to Los Angeles and Orange County where
we would do our last shows before returning to the U.K. They proved to be our last
gigs in more ways than one.
The environment of the road is infamous even to people who havent experienced it. Its tough and extremely demanding on peoples nerves. Our relationship in
the band with John Foxx had never been great and had been steadily unraveling for a
long time, but this tested it to the limit. It was obvious to us that it wasnt a matter of
if something was going to give, but when.
It all came to a head in San Francisco. We got into a huge row after the show and
that was it. Wed had our fill of each other and decided that when we got back to
London, John was going his way and we would go ours. As you can imagine, the
atmosphere on the remainder of the tour was decidedly strained.

April
Midge Ure joins Ultravox
Upon our return, things indeed looked grim.
Wed been dropped by our label, needed a lead singer, and had no money to speak of.
But we were determined to keep the band alivewed stick it out and prove
ourselves. Soon a fresh set-back developed. Robin Simon had chosen to stay over in
New York for a little while and, during a call to find out when he was returning, he
told me hed decided to leave the band and remain in the U.S. The attractions of New
York were more appealing than his prospects with us in London. I was shocked and
did my best to convince him to stay, but his mind was firmly made up. With Robin
out of the band, the odds had become stacked against us even more.

Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

27

bottom end from it. We fed that through more EQ, making the sound as sharp as we
could and recorded or bounced that sound to another track. As we did this, I
selectively punched a button on the desk controlling the send -to-tape of the
signalas I punched the button off and on, it cut off the beats we didnt want, thus
ending up with a snare sound on the second and fourth beat of each bar on Track
#2. Alternatively, sometimes I would edit out the unwanted beats via quickly sliding
one of the faders up and down.
By running the original Track #1 through a delay unit plus more filters, compressors, and a noise gate (or two) before bouncing it to Track #3, I could have something
which would rhythmically function as a high-hat sound. As everything was a direct
derivative of Track #1, they were all in time and sync with one another. Using this
method we could build up and assemble a variety of rhythms. A tedious process, but
it worked and sounded unique.
Wed done the majority of our usual extensive preparation for recording back in
London, but we were finding that it was inspirational to leave deliberate gaps in the
songsfree-form areas in the songs that we would fill in once we were in the studio

...we were finding that it was

inspirational to leave deliberate
gaps in the songsfree-form
areas in the songs that we would
fill in once we were in the studio
environment.

environment. We were firmly in the first stages of becoming truly comfortable with
this when we recorded Systems. Due largely to our experiences here, with future
records wed nail the bare bones of the song. Itd have a solid and cohesive structure,
but enough vague areas floating around to leave room for further expression; space to
experiment and expand upon the basic idea once we had the facilities of a studio to
play with.
As it was our third album, we were now also becoming familiar with the feeling
of knowing wed have to top ourselves with each subsequent release and it occasionally began to weigh upon us. Still, we were so proud of this record when wed finished
it, we all felt wed done our absolute best work to date.
In retrospect, I think its plain that (with perhaps the borderline exceptions of I
Cant Stay Long and When You Walk Through Me) the songs Someone Elses
Clothes, Blue Light, Some of Them, and Maximum Acceleration were the final
remnants of a skin we were in the process of shedding. Slow Motion, Quiet Men,
Just For A Moment, and Dislocation were plainly indicative of where we were
heading.

24

Ultravox: The Story

1979
January 1
Ultravox dumped by Island

Upon the release of Systems of Romance we

commenced touring. Wed made what we felt was definitely our best album and the
response from audiences seemed to bear that out, which was very reassuring. We
traveled all over the U.K. and Europe and played a lot of good shows. Just as things
began winding down from that series of tours and we began thinking about the next
album, to our great surprise, Island Records choose that time to drop us. I think it was
New Years Day 78/79. They told us that was itfinis. It seemed to make no sense.
I cant say I know why with any degree of exactitude or conviction, except that
we certainly werent pumping out chart topping hits. Still, our actual sales seemed to
be making progress and we felt we were just on the verge of success. Perhaps they just
decided theyd had enough of us and werent prepared to put any more money and
effort into it all.
While initially believing in the band, theyd never really known just what to do
with us (we had to respect them for saying, We dont quite know what youre doing,
but we like it!). Our initial promise had deteriorated into a bad relationship with the
music press who didnt know what to make of us eitherespecially as wed didnt fit
into their rabid obsession with Punk (no matter that we did our fair share to define
it in the first place). The various labels theyd tagged us with stuck tenaciously until
they came up with some new ones later on.
Our lack of proper management had certainly hampered our career. But wed
managed to get ourselves signed to a major record company and make three albums
without having our own business manager! Quite a feat. In the early days, we didnt
have enough clout to get big-time management and, once wed been signed,
we were too paranoid and mistrustful of anyone to make the plunge. It always seemed
like we were far too busy with writing or recording or playing to seriously investigate
getting a manager. Plus, to be fair, most of the time we thought we knew better and
could do it ourselves. Depending on how you look at it, we were either incredibly
ballsy and forward thinking or very stupid and misguided. Both, I think.
Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wrstad

25